Car Club Helps Regina Seniors Celebrate Canada Day With A Parade
Author of the article: Lynn Giesbrecht • Regina Leader-PostPublishing date: Jul 01, 2020, • Last Updated 17 days ago • 3 minutes read

REGINA, SASK : July 1, 2020 — Passengers in a classic car wave as a parade of cars drives past a line of residents and workers at the William Booth Special Care Home in Regina, Saskatchewan on July 1, 2020. BRANDON HARDER/ Regina Leader-Post
Passengers in a classic car wave as a parade of cars drive past a line of residents and workers at the William Booth Special Care Home in Regina, Saskatchewan on July 1, 2020. BRANDON HARDER / Regina Leader-Post
While Regina’s usual places of Canada Day celebrations were oddly silent this year, a local car club made sure the Queen City’s seniors marked the occasion in a way that was far from quiet.

Members of the Saskatchewan Ford / Mercury Club gathered with their antique and collector vehicles near the Northgate Mall Wednesday afternoon before beginning a two-hour parade that took them past 14 seniors’ homes in the city.

As the dozens of vehicles drove past each facility, residents gathered outside and watched the cars go by, smiling and waving.

For Paul Nelson, a resident at William Booth Special Care Home, the parade brought back a lot of memories from his younger years.

He had a particular “soft spot” for a 1964 Chevrolet that went by because a friend of his used to have one and he remembers “cruising down the highway” in it. Nelson also recalled buying a used 1956 Chevrolet for just $265 when he was young.

“It was rusty,” he said. “I worked on it until I totalled it off.”

The parade was also a trip down memory lane for William Booth resident Mike Dow.

“I loved it,” he said, adding that the antique Volkswagen Beetle was his favourite part of the parade. “This was a special treat.”

REGINA, SASK : July 1, 2020 — A man affixes a Canada flag to the window of a Volkswagen Beetle as a group of automobile enthusiasts gather in the parking lot of the Northgate Mall in Regina, Saskatchewan on July 1, 2020. BRANDON HARDER/ Regina Leader-Post
A man affixes a Canada flag to the window of a Volkswagen Beetle as a group of automobile enthusiasts gather in the parking lot of the Northgate Mall in Regina, Saskatchewan on July 1, 2020. BRANDON HARDER/Regina Leader-Post
Bringing back youth and giving the seniors something to look forward to on Canada Day were exactly the reasons the Saskatchewan Ford / Mercury Club put on the parade, said the group’s secretary treasurer and event organizer Jim Leskun.

“They can’t get out of their facilities with the lockdown so we’re giving them something,” Leskun said. “The cars are often from their era, you know the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s … It’s something they would have probably driven in their late teens and early 20s.”

The parade drove past Regina Lutheran Home, William Booth Special Care Home, Trinity Manor, Santa Maria Senior Citizens Home, Wintergreene Estates, Extendicare Sunset, Extendicare Parkside, Extendicare Elmview, Marian Chateau, Wascana Rehabilitation Centre, College Park, Broadway Terrace, Queen Victoria Estates and Green Falls Landing.